latest news in the week's top story the border shelling between syria and turkey as fresh violence is damascus but a car bomb exploding outside police headquarters. italians furious over mounting the descends into clashes while civil servants are marching for their jobs in spain . and venezuela varies with

a new president or maybe the previous one longstanding socialist leader who could target faces a tough challenge from a democratic opponent. it's one am here in moscow actually it's twelve am here in moscow you're watching r t with me to say now called bomb has exploded near police headquarters in the syrian capital damascus killing at least one person syrian t.v. has already described it as a terror act the blast insulators in a series of attacks that security personnel and government institutions of damascus in particular becoming a frequent target this syria and turkey sent another round of artillery shells over the border at each other on middle east correspondent policia has the details. for

the third straight day take a shot tell you he has fired into syria this coming just minutes after a mortar landed in turkish territory to fired from syria we understand that at least eight mortars were fired from turkey into syria now according to the mayor of the border town where this shell landed he says bet there was very little damage other than damage to a grain death pope but other than that it landed in an empty field and there were no reports of injuries it is the same border when each wave five mean this is. same family were killed on wednesday that was two women and three children when a mortar fire from syria landed in ways a danger building at the same time we're hearing continuing words from the turkish prime minister that he will not allow these kind of events to go unprovoked he says it is pushed he will declare war and that has been quite a strong message from him now there is going concern that this instability and on the turkish syrian border will result in regional instability there's also concern

by numerous critics who have put forth the argument that they believe that the shells that are being fired from the syrian side are being fired at liberty in each remember that this rewarding area on the syrian side between syria and turkey is an area that is controlled by the rebels and as such it is possible that they're firing these these rounds deliberately to provoke turkey to go to nato and cool off some foreign intervention of course this is something that many people are increasingly concerned about the situation in syria after eighteen months of fighting is showing no lacing up there continues to be almost daily blas in the capital city of damascus and they're particularly cost suicide bombings has become almost the norm the same situation is happening in aleppo the commercial hub of the country in the north and there we're hearing of continuous heavy fighting and also in recent days and in recent weeks we've witnessed rise in prices start families there were also receiving a twitter feed from the chef i've not out of now he is

a sunni muslim preacher and the salafist media has become almost a symbol of the rebels fighting in syria he says that they have captured the cousin of the syrian president bashar assad we have no information on that at this stage and no way of actually being able to independently prove it russia continues to play a mediating role they are expecting that the e.u. in nato envoy to syria could be in russia later this month and as such will be there for talks but russia is edging calm and saying that this kind of escalation in tensions along the turkish syrian border is completely unacceptable in any kind of cross border operations to be frowned upon. and on our web side we're asking you whether you think turkey will send troops into syria thirty four percent of you think uncle al would use politicians new motion to slam critics religious in syria and of course say to you society will revolt against. the world into a split among those who say it won't happen if shelling from syria continued send

those who think turkey likes nato support cost you upload. but graham is keeping up its crackdown on pro rata from protesters causing more fierce clashes between police and demonstrators friday to guess and water cannons we use to disperse crowds violence started off for the funeral of a young protester who died in custody here activists demanding equal rights from the shooting more nike and the release of political prisoners one of them prominent human rights defenders neville wran job that's gone on hunger strikes which received the least would tend his mother's funeral but was not allowed to move further with his family or a job is serving us really a jail term for it participating in illegal gatherings meanwhile former c.n.n. reporter and we don't believe a documentary on what's happening in the sense that buys in that we're.

paying c.n.n. to create content that shows bahrain in a favorable light even though c.n.n. says this content you know is editorially independent it doesn't see it can affect that well we've seen that with this documentary not airing and also with the constant struggle i had at c.n.n. to get bahrain coverage accurate bahrain coverage of the human rights abuses on air while i was there what c.n.n. is doing is they're essentially creating what some people have termed infomercials for dictators and that's the sponsored content that they're airing on c.n.n. international that's actually being paid for by regimes and and governments. this violates every principle of journalistic ethics because we're supposed to be watchdogs on these governments we're not supposed to allow them to be paying customers we were able to kind of dodge our minders and sneak into some of the villages and actually see these atrocities patients who'd run out of the hospitals that were shot up with birdshot and as we were heading back out of these villages

we were violently detained by security forces and buffering and luckily my female producer and i were able to hide some disks in our broads and we were able to actually get out of the country with this content so you can imagine surprise when we got back to the us and this content was airing on c.n.n. and right after that is when the phone calls started coming into the network complaining about me and trying to get my coverage. of violence and unrest has returned to tunis you had to this time it's a clash over the trash please thirteen thousand angry residents hit the streets and said calls of glaze over the reopening of a rubbish dump more details on a website. and washington becomes the latest american city to use b. and t. jihad as we look at whether it may be actually be provoking even more hatred towards the muslim world this and more features and stories waiting for you on our teams website. the pakistani military

has blogged in there and to you as motorcade rally which was heading towards the country's tribal hall belong the border the protests was led by a cricket legend turned politician imran khan and a track to thousands of people a large number of civilians have died in american drone strikes and khan is calling for an end to the killings for more on that we now talk to robert naiman who took part in the rally in is an avid is the pushing for reforms to us foreign policy good to have you on our team is the name and now the where reproduced at the convoy could be targeted by taliban suicide bombers why did you decide to take part. well i took part because the there is a mismatch i think between what's happening in pakistan particularly in the tribal areas the result of u.s. policy and the discussion or lack of discussion of these issues and these policies

impacts in the united states so with respect to the drone strikes first of all u.s. top level u.s. officials usually refuse to discuss the policy at all claiming it's classified of course ridiculous because everybody knows that there is a drone strike program you know the thing that they do is speak about it in a very vague and misleading terms that doesn't allow for substantive discussion of real issues so for example john brennan president obama's counterterrorism advisor has claimed that civilian deaths from drone strikes the rare well we know that the bureau of investigative journalism in the u.k. has counted somewhere between four hundred and eight hundred. civilian deaths since two thousand and four from u.s. drone strike that's between fifteen and thirty percent of the deaths intro trikes in two thousand and four meanwhile we have reports last week from stanford to n.y.u. and civic and columbia law saying that only two percent of the deaths from drone

strikes in two thousand and four or so called top level terrorist targets so in fact far from being exceedingly rare the deaths are normal that's a regular thing and in fact there are seven to fifteen times as many as the deaths of these so-called top level terrorist leaders so the actual policy is something completely different from the story that's being told in united states the stories being told the united states is about targeting top level terrorist leaders and it's not killing civilians the reality is the total opposite of that and we need to end that story is so far not really gotten to the american people. so that's why i'm here to try and do something to raise up that story as well as to humanize pakistani civilians because i don't think this policy would ever be possible this u.s. policy and worked a case that these civilian lives in the tribal areas in which there is now are

being counted is zero and the formation of u.s. policy has not counted for anything and we want to humanize these people before the american public can turn this policy around mr khan said the aerial strikes against all humanitarian laws and help militants actually recruit more people so why doesn't the pakistani government do more to stop them. well first of all it's not just imran khan that says just about every expert in international law outside the united states will say that it leaves that there are at least some aspects of the current policy which are clear violations of international law the un special rapporteur tour on extrajudicial executions has said that you know if these reports are true about what the us is doing they would constitute for example the killings of rescue that even if the war were illegal which it may be able to death that but

put that aside suppose that this is a legal conflict you can't target civilian rescuer that's a war crime so it's not just imran khan saying it's people all around the world including in. your national law experts in the united states why doesn't the pakistan government do something oh well that's kind of the fifty thousand dollar question on the one hand the the public the democratically elected part of the pakistani government just totally against these drone strikes the pakistani parliament passed unanimously a resolution demanding that these drone strikes stop and every pakistani official when they're quoted in public says the pakistanis again says we have nothing to do with this we're not supporting this right doors the u.s. claims that in private the pakistani government or at least some part of it is doing something else recently the wall street journal reported that the basis of this u.s. claim appears to be true tenuous every month apparently cia sans

a fax to the pakistani military that contains a list of new so-called kill boxes there anywhere close as an operation a man let me just jump in on that because i actually just want to briefly all speak human rights groups have demanded that that information be made public more information of these drone strikes who they talk to exactly what is this be the solution to what's going on right now. well it's a hugely important step absolutely there must be more transparency the u.s. government must be called to account internationally and domestically and explain why they think their policy is legal under international law under u.s. law come clean about the issue of civilian casualties and their own the u.s. is critical of this unilateral definition for its own purposes of what a civilian is of course there's no there's no permission international law to do that so absolutely there must be more transparency and accountability for the

united states government and i think the first step towards that is trying to force into public discussion and debate but are you going to have saving the damn ball those are arrested a man i've run out of time i thank you so much for your thoughts robert naiman and independent analysts promoting u.s. foreign policy reform thank you for being on r.t. . fred america's involvement in neighboring afghanistan has also seen countless civilians as well as made to lose their life plays on our t.v. we look at the legacy of washington's war eleven years on and whether it has brought more harm than good these stories and much more after the break stay with us. flying north with me in this old soviet work or so the helicopter is doctors landed near brodsky and his team from the region's medical aviation service we head across ever more barren tundra higher and higher into russia's arctic far north until

eventually we see our landing spot with arrive at this tiny village after crossing hundreds of kilometers of snow a world of us as a boy here suffering from fever and the doctors are going to see what they can do but. inside a small building not one but two babies and their parents are waiting for us the doctors inspect them but can't make a diagnosis and decide to bring them to a regional hospital for better care spread lana doesn't like taking her baby away from home but she's been before and degrees to go that's the usual practice with those who live in it to indra they keep mothers with their newborns in hospital for a month. on the way back another stop to check on the health of some native minutes reindeer herders out in the tundra it can take many hours to reach the nearest village so all medical problems simply fixed here in the tent. they used to be but

now we can go to civilized places so we call for emergency help. back at hospital other patients helped by the air ambulance and being treated the service costs fourteen million dollars a year to run and there's been controversy with some claiming that locals exaggerate or make up health problems and use the helicopters as a free taxi service accusations vladimir firmly dismisses your brother is not true usually the calls are perfectly justified sometimes we even reproach locals for waiting too long before calling us he's been working as a doctor now for forty three years but vladimir is confident the diva after he retires his helicopter doctors will remain a lifeline to the peoples of the russian far north cultures that so much are different and there is a huge percentage of our mind that mark when is the end really the end the strategy of the u.s. led mission in afghanistan is in a shambles green on blue attacks against coalition.

more news today violence has once again flared up the families are the images. from the streets and canada. china operation. with r.t. good to have you with us and to your stereotype is mounting any europa's the royal servants take to the streets for

a second day in madrid trade unions have gathered thousands to demand an end to cutbacks in the public sector and the privatization of public services if they have also seen as their share of the action this week led by the country students who clashed with police thousands marched in major cities calling for the government to save schools not banks in rome up to six police men were invited to students world stones at them and try to rush the police then well in venice independence supporters lost on saturday to demand the region go it alone investment adviser patrick young says the e.u. is headed towards collapse. the european union constantly believes it knows what's best for all of its clients therefore it pushed countries like ireland into a beloit in order to basically appease french and german borrowers there are absolutely no positive results from what the e.u. has done over the course of the last five or ten years indeed basically the history

of the euro is not horribly soiled exercise and effectively breaching the people and trying to destroy economies the european union has several fundamental problems ultimately it is a very rich area was a great deal of resources the difficulty is it's very difficult to start a business it's very difficult to run a business if you're successful in business they're going to tax you to death and in the meantime they're all running absolutely ridiculous communist era sized socialist states the truth is western europe is buying trucks it cannot afford to have the government be the major economic actor in the system and therefore just as we saw russian communism collapsed so too we're seeing the dearth of western european socialism. change him all the same that's the question venezuelans have to answer as they head to vote for president longstanding need to. face is the biggest challenge to his socialist rule from end brianna as

a young democrat archies loosely call for an off with the latest over into office where voting has finally kicked off in venezuela you can see a huge line of people stretching around the corner we're not even close to the polling station but the excitement here is a man and these people have been lined up as you can see the line is starting to finally move for hours hours before the polls even opened both candidates have been urging people to take to the streets to really get out there early to try to build up the popular support early because as soon as there is an irreversible trend the winner will be announced now what is at stake here on one and perhaps incumbent president hugo chavez who is really radically changed both venezuela and the region under his so-called socialist twenty first century policies one of that has translated to. certain industries using venezuela's oil exports revenue to really focus attention on the underprivileged the poor here in the country that's translated into social programs free health care education. communications housing

and transportation services for people who really didn't have access for that and this has over the years built up a blonde's well of popular support. for years and wants to stay for six more years now his opponent has really seized on some of the problems that continue to plague this country this is corruption a very high crime rate. young a forty year old wealthy businessman who has criticized this country's economic policies and promised to improve ties with the west and really radicalize the way this huge resource of law now critics here suggest that he could represent a radical alternative to chavez nominally in the sense that he could reverse a lot of those social program policies potentially impose austerity packages on the cut. three and really take away some of the programs of the poor here have continued to rely on of course that is not what his campaign says but that is the fear think how can i comment that if i like. u.s. media coverage of the presidential race in venezuela has been criticized as biased

against time as asia times correspondent deborah escobar says washington would like a puppet in caracas not an intractable leader and as the author election which is show this war against washington which it was the united states still iraq to have a separate korean state even as well like it was before charges before these two of years but the trouble is it's amazing because i thought if you follow a mainstream media india way it's in the western europe and even the last of south america big bradford groups cultural media it's also barracks even is well in brazil and argentina it for instance to show this is the most big one i used to head of state in modern times even more than so that was saying. that the image that you made it it's amazing. these private groups least of them

they are aligned with washington just like the situation that you see sometimes in as well so or is it jobs these democrats as a communist or even a fascist or even a mixture of bulls like a communist fascist this is completely absurd. ok over the seventh eleven years ago the day the u.s. led war in afghanistan began over three thousand alliance troops have died in the conflict or most of them americans but far more afghanistan civilians have lost their lives and a national affairs commentator rick ross of believes the only thing made till has achieved is causing hatred towards the west among the local population. precious little has been accomplished ninety bozza have sons of course by the western military intervention an occupation in afghanistan. most of their arguably the only accomplishment dubious as it is i don't see him production of skyrocketed under the watch of the u.s. and nato in afghanistan you know evidently the afghan people are not on developing foreign boots on the ground and you know particularly after such

a long period of time the so-called green on blue attacks are an indication that the rank and file of the the afghan population would like to see us in their nato allies and the us and their nato allies vacate the country as quickly as possible and then none of this. debacle would have occurred in the first place out of nothin for the carter and the reagan administrations for a the war which you know a disaster baited ethnic and regional and other times she's inside the country and there's an afghan asons led to thirty four year war in afghanistan and we have to place the blame where it belongs you know this is the result of u.s. intervention going back to the late one nine hundred seventy s. . and a few minutes and we talked to an award winning economist and historian to get his take on how to mend britain's a failing economy that's coming up to the break. well

. science technology innovation all the developments from around russia we've got the future covered. you know how sometimes you see a story and it seems so for like you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else and you hear or see some other part of it and realized everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm sorry welcome to the big picture. my parents really truly honestly believe that what had happened was as a result of my father's exposure to agent orange i was born with multiple problems . i was missing my leg and my fingers and my big toe on

my right foot i use my hands a lot in my artwork i find myself drawing my hands quite a bit to me for my hands you know just as if anyone would. but they do tell a story they tell us story of. oxen. thank . you.

thank. you.

bill. today i'm talking to north robert skidelsky he's a professor of political economy and also the biographer of john may not keynes widely considered to be the most influential economist of the twentieth century we'll be talking about what keynes could bring to today's economic crisis but it's good else he first could you explain to me in layman's terms what the government is doing to mend the economy and why you think it's not working well i don't think they're doing very much to mend the economy i think that their policies of made things worse. the sad fact is that the british economy has been shrinking slowly almost for a year now rather like a very slowly leaking balloon and the government of been trying in one or two small

ways to give it a bit of a stimulus but i think they're quite new initiatives and it's too early to say how much effect they'll have but in general i don't think they will have very much effect and so i don't think at the moment they're doing anything very much to help because there's an awful lot of talk about prioritizing the economy and it's the main thing that we have to work on but then on the same time you say that not very much is being done at all one thing is that they're blaming everyone but themselves first of all it was it was the euro crisis then it was the high high commodity rise in commodity prices and so they claim that the policy of a sterile should bring about the recovery but that it's been derailed by these unfortunate external shocks but the pollen.